
Glass. 
Book. 






.I)'^3 



The Texas Frontier 

1820-1825^ 



By 
LESTER G. BUGBEE 



[From Publications of Soutliern History Association, 
March, 1900.] 



harrisburg, pa. : 

Harrisburg Pubi^ishing Company 

1900 



THE TEXAS FRONTIER— 1820-1825. 
By Lester G. Bugbee. 

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the conditions and 
causes which led to the jfirst serious trouble between the 
Mexican government and the Anglo-Americans who settled 
in Texas in the early twenties. The difficulties which 
proved the ruin of the colonization project of Hayden Ed- 
wards and caused the first armed conflict between the Amer- 
ican settlers in Texas and their adopted country were the 
logical, indeed the inevitable, outgrowth of conditions for 
which Edwards was in no wise responsible and which came 
into being long before he received permission to colonize 
the country around Nacogdoches. 

In order to arrive at a clear understanding of these diffi- 
culties this paper will consider the following topics at some 
length : (i) The coming of the Americans, (2) The char- 
acter of the American population on the frontier, (3) The 
weakness of the local government, (4) Factions, (5) The re- 
turn of the former Mexican inhabitants, (6) The migration 
of the Cherokees and allied tribes, (7) Suspicions of the 
Mexican officials as to the designs of the United States upon 
Texas, (8) The danger of unrestricted immigration of 
Americans, and (9) The need of a garrison at Nacogdoches. 

The coming of the Americans. Prior to the Mexican Revo- 
lution Nacogdoches was a frontier post of considerable im- 
portance with a population which varied from 600 to 900.^ 
During the Revolution, it fell a victim to its exposed situa- 
tion and to the lack of a strong garrison ; the population 

*The total population, January i, 1805, was 810: January i, 1806, 
it was 891. — Archives of Bexar, census reports. These papers have 
not yf* been classified, hence definite references are impossible. 



3 ^k'OS 



The Texas Frontier. — Biigbee. 103 

disappeared and in 1821, and perhaps for a few years im- 
mediately preceding, the government recognized no sub- 
ordinate jurisdiction in that quarter and made no attempt 
to maintain a garrison or post of any kind. The Mexican 
population sought safer homes in Louisiana, and, in the 
eyes of the law, the country .around Nacogdoches was de- 
serted. 

In fact, however, it had become the home of certain Amer- 
icans who for one reason or another preferred the solitude 
and wild freedom of the woods to the society and restraints 
of civilized life. When Erasmo Seguin escorted the first 
American colonists into Mexico in July, 1821, he called 
together these squatters to the number of thirty-six as he 
passed the old site of Nacogdoches and gave them a pro- 
visional organization for the purpose of administering jus- 
tice, — at the same time frankly telling them that the gov- 
ernment did not want them to remain in that locality.^ The 
Americans appeared willing to conform to the wishes of the 
government, promised obedience to the officer placed over 
them, and forwarded to the governor of the province a peti- 
tion asking for an assignment of lands. 

The American population now began to increase rapidly. 
The year 1823 seems to have been marked by one of those 
floods which so often destroy the crops and threaten the 
homes of the inhabitants of the Mississippi bottom. The 
Mexican government by order of August 20th of that year 
invited those unfortunates who had been driven from home 
by the flood to take refuge in Texas on the condition that 
they should either return to the United States as soon as 
possible or remove to the interior of the province. The 
Mexican officials believed that this offer brought many 

* Erasmo Seguin to Governor Martinez, August 19, 1821. — 
Archives of Bexar. Journal of Stephen F. Austin, entry of July 19, 
1821. — Austin Papers A g, in collection of Hon. Guy M. Bryan, 
Austin, Texas. 



I04 Southern History Association. 

Americans into the country, most of whom remained near 
the border.'' 

Just at this time, too, it became generally known through- 
out a large section of the United States that Mexico had 
opened wide the door and had invited the pioneer to help 
himself to the rich lands of Texas. The grant, which was 
made to Moses Austin before the Revolution, was a gener- 
ous one and succeeding governments proved even more 
liberal, in fact almost prodigal, in their gifts to individuals 
and to empresarios. The generous provisions made for 
intending settlers soon became known throughout the 
southern United States, and removal to Mexico grew into 
a theme of absorbing interest in many a southern com- 
munity. It has been said above that the first settlers of 
Austin's colony crossed the border in 1821. From that 
time forward a steady stream of Americans poured into 
Texas, a large number of whom came by the great thorough- 
fare which passed through Nacogdoches and which became 
known to Americans as the San Antonio Road. It was 
frequently the case that immigrants stopped in Eastern 
Texas and remained permanently or briefly as necessity or 
choice directed. As a rule most of those who stopped 
passed on after having grown and harvested a crop of corn. 
But in 1822 and 1823 reports of the Revolution in Mexico 
followed each other into Texas in rapid succession, and dis- 
quieting rumors reached the ears of those who were on 
their way to Austin's grant that he had encountered some 
unforeseen difficulty in Mexico and that the central govern- 
ment had refused to permit him to go forward with his set- 
tlement. These rumors, together with Austin's long ab- 
sence and a general failure of crops, discouraged his colon- 
ists and a large part of even those who had reached the 
Brazos and Colorado started back to the United States. 

' Political chief Saucedo to Minister of Relations, April 15, 1824. 
— Archives of Bexar. 



The Texas Frontier.— Ewghee. 105 

Many of these again lingered around Nacogdoches on their 
homeward journey. Moreover, new settlers who were just 
entering Texas were met at this point by such discourag- 
ing reports that many halted here and waited for definite 
news from Mexico and from Stephen Austin. Thus was the 
movement of colonists in either direction checked on the 
frontier and the population around Nacogdoches grew rap- 
idly into a restless, turbulent and even dangerous aggrega- 
tion of many kinds of men. 

So rapid was this increase that wuthin three years after 
Austin's first colonists entered Texas with Seguin the in- 
habitants of the Nacogdoches district believed that the pop- 
ulation of this border community amounted to 1,600 souls. 
It was to be a matter of grave consequence that more than 
a thousand of these lived between the boundary of the 
United States and the Atoyac, a small stream a few miles 
east of Nacogdoches.^ 

Nacogdoches was only one of the many such settlements 
that grew^ up along the border. That on Ayish Bayou may 
well be thought of as a branch of the Nacogdoches settle- 
ment both on account of its proximity and the intimate re- 
lations existing between the two communities; by Febru- 
ary, 1 82 1, this little settlement contained at least sixteen 
adult males ^ and its growth steadily continued in the years 

* Petition, signed by 129 Americans, to political chief; this docu- 
ment is undated, but must have been written before the end of 
1824. — Archives of Bexar. 

An unsigned document, dated Nacogdoches, Jan. 8, 1822, gives 
the names of 39 heads of families who passed through Nacogdoches 
on the way to Austin's colony between October 16, 1821, and Janu- 
ary 8, 1822. Only sixteen of these are to be found in the list of 
Austin's first three hundred settlers; the remainder probably were 
among those who grew discouraged and returned. — Archives of 
Bexar. 

A petition with 114 signatures, dated January 16, 1824, asks that 
James Dill be restored to the office' of alcalde; these signers seem to 
compose one faction, while the opponents to Dill constitute an- 
other. — Archives of Bexar. 

° William English, Nacogdoches, to , February 18, 1821. — 

Archives of Bexar. ^' 



io6 Southern History Association. 

that followed. There was also a settlement at Pecan Point 
sufficiently large to address a petition to the governor in 
May, 1823. Another, known as Jonesborough, and next 
to Nacogdoches probably the largest on the frontier, was 
situated some 100 leagues above Natchitoches and con- 
tained a population of about eighty families." Besides these 
centres of poulation there were of course many individuals 
and families who braved the perils of the forest and built 
their cabins far away from the settlements. By 1825, then, 
there was a very considerable American population scat- 
tered along the entire eastern border of Texas, most of 
which seems to have collected in or near the settlements of 
Nacogdoches, Ayish, Pecan- Point, and Jonesborough. 

Character of the American population. The population of 
this border country was a varied and motley crowd. Ther>2 
was the rough pioneer surrounded by his hardy family who 
had been attracted to Texas by reports of the fertility of its 
soil and by the liberal terms offered to settlers. These were 
the best people in the community and they were by far the 
majority of the population.'^ They brought with them in- 
eradicably fixed in their minds theAmerican ideas of repub- 
lican government modified by the extreme individualism 
common to pioneers, and they stood ready to make practi- 
cal application of those ideas to any conditions, at any time, 
and under all circumstances. Later when they came in con- 
tact with the Mexican authorities, they did not dream that 
they were in the least at fault when they projected American 
constitutional ideas into the newly created government of 
Mexico, and so did not hesitate to upbraid their adopted 

• William Rabb to the Governor of the State, undated, but proba- 
bly written prior to 1825. — Archives of Bexar. 

There is a copy of a petition in the Archives of Bexar frorn the 
settlers "south of Red River," which states that eighty-four signa- 
tures had been attached to the original. This probably refers to 
the Jonesborough settlement. It is dated June, 1821. 

^ Petition to political chief (undated but probably written before 
1825) states that there are 200 families in Nacogdoches with an 
average of eight persons in each. — Archives of Bexar. 



The Texas Frontier. — Bugbee. 107 

country and condemn the Mexican's ignorance of the fun- 
damental principles of republican government. A brave, 
rough, honest, hospitable, not too reverent or i-espectful 
people, they were as fearless in asserting what they believed 
to be the rights of the individual as they were confident that 
they knew what those rights were. This class was, as a 
rule, poor ; a few hogs, a half dozen horses, and a meagre 
supply of farming tools and household furniture gave a man 
standing in the community as well-to-do; add two or three 
slaves and a family of sturdy boys and his neighbors looked 
upon him as a rich man. 

On the other extreme was a class, happily small, com- 
posed of escaped criminals and vagabonds of the worst 
sort f between these two extremes might be found men of 
all degrees of morality and of all shades of opinion. Men 
who had known better days and had moved in cultured so- 
ciety jostled discordantly with the rough hunters whom 
Bastrop reported as living almost exclusively on the pro- 
ducts of the chase. There were men whom business re- 
verses had driven from home ; there were those who had 
fled to gain a respite from the demands of creditors and 
who sought here an opportunity to recover lost fortunes ; 
and, it must be added, there were also those who came with 
the less worthy motive of forever repudiating claims 
against them. The speculator, the merchant, the sur\^eyor, 
the planter and stockman, with the sprinkling of black-legs 
and criminals mentioned above, — all aggressive and on the 
alert, every man a sovereign in his own conception and 



' Blotter of political chief,— letter to Santiago Gaines, March 18. 
1824. — Archives of Bexar. In the "cuaderno" or "blotter" were 
kept copies of official letters. 

Blotter of political chief,— letter to Minister of Relations, August 
20. 1824. In asking that a military force be stationed on the Na- 
cogdoches frontier, the political chief urged in this letter that one 
of the services of such a force would be "to secure us from the 
malignity and perfidy of men nurtured in the bosom of hostility, 
accustomed to nourish themselves with human blood, and to live 
by robbery and assassination." 



io8 Southern History Association. 

thoroughly able to take care of himself, — these formed a 
community which can be found only on the western margin 
of Anglo-Saxon civilization. 

Weakness of the local government. In such a community 
the agents of government are always more or less weak ; in 
the particular one under consideration they were powerless 
in the extreme. The inhabitants themselves acknowledged 
in 1824 that many of them had lived in the district for years 
practically subject to no political authority and even without 
a knowledge of the requirements demanded of them by the 
government.® Nacogdoches was not far from the boundary 
of the United States on the one hand and still nearer the 
wilds of the uninhabited forest on the other. Evil doers 
had thus a ready escape from prosecution, and the ifear of 
legal punishment was almost unknown. As should be ex- 
pected in such a community the reports of the local authori- 
ties to the executive during this period abound in com- 
plaints against individuals who defied the law and despised 
its local representatives. Perhaps we shall not err much if 
we regard a dispute which arose between James Davidson 
and Thomas Spencer as fairly illustrating the weakness of 
the government in the administration of justice. The point 
involved was the possession of a piece of land and the three 
men to whom the matter was referred by the alcalde decided 
in favor of Davidson. But Spencer ignored the order to sur- 
render the land and the arm of the law was so weak that the 
alcalde was forced to report the case to the governor and to 
content himself with commenting that Spencer "wishes 
not to comply with none of the rules of government" and 
with begging the governor to "instruct me how to exempt 
government and myself of such a violator of the regu- 
lations and Jaw of the nation." Such weakness of the law 
in such a community could lead to but one result ; David- 

* Inhabitants of Nacogdoches to political chief, — a petition with 
129 signatures; undated, but most probably drawn up in 1824. — 
Archives of Bexar. 



The Texas Frontier. — Bugbee. 109 

son took the matter in his own hands and Spencer was shot 
while at work on the farm in dispute.^" So weak, in fact, 
was the administration of justice, that on at least two occa- 
sions the Americans ignored the regular courts and in 
mass-meeting sat in judgment upon cases which they 
thought demanded attention. These mass-meetings were 
not of the character of lynchings, but in a rude way a court 
was organized on each occasion, the accused was tried be- 
fore a jury of his fellows, and, in one of the cases, lawyers 
were brought from Natchitoches to plead the cause of the 
parties concerned/^ 

Innumerable evils arose out of this failure on the part of 
the government to preserve order. One of these which 
seemed to concern the executive of Texas very much 
was the illicit trade which w^as carried on between certain 
Americans and the tribes of Indians who were regarded by 
the Mexicans as unfriendly. These tjaders, with utter 
indifference to the laws of the country, supplied the In- 
dians with fire-arms and ammunition and in return re- 
ceived horses and mules which had been stolen from the 
Mexican settlements. A demand was thus created which 
had the practical effect of encouraging the Indians to 
make raids upon the helpless people farther west. The 
government repeatedly made attempts to suppress this il- 
licit trade, but though measures as rigid as were possible 
were resorted to,^^ such attempts were never more than par- 
tially or temporarily successful. 

"Decision of referees, November 24. 1821; order of alcaMe, No- 
vember 28, 1821; Dill to Governor of Texas, January 10, 1822, and 
January 31, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

"Blotter of political chief, — letter to Governor Gonzalez, June 10, 
1825. — Archives of Bexar. 

" Erasmo Seguin to Governor Martinez (copy). August 19. 1821, 
reports the capture of a caballada and the men in charge of it near 
Nacogdoches. — Archives of Bexar. Stephen Austin, who was with 
Seguin, also records this in his journal. 

Santiago Dill (alcalde) to the Governor, August 27, 1822, com- 
plains of this trade. — Archives of Bexar. 

Governor Trespalacios to Alcalde Dill. September 11, 1822, prom- 



no Southern History Association. 

Other evils arising out of the weakness of the government 
might be mentioned in this connection ; a few of the gravest 
of them will be considered more at length a little later. It 
is sufficient to point out here that the failure of the gov- 
ernment to make itself respected was responsible for most 
of the trouble that followed, — was responsible for the ir- 
regular and illegal immigration and settlement of the 
Americans and for the disputes which arose between Mexi- 
cans and Americans over land titles, — in short, was respon- 
sible for that first serious difficulty between the new settlers 
and their adopted country which has become known in 
Texas history as the Fredonian War. 

Factions. A further complication arose from the fact that 
political factions developed on the border and thus added 
a new element of disorder. Just what the diflficulty was is 
not clear and from the documents at hand it is impos- 
sible to say to j|vhat extent the race question entered 
into the matter. It is certain, however, that in 1824 
complaints were made against the alcalde, James Dill, 
and that he was either deposed by the executive or his term 
opportunely expired. His place was then filled by the elec- 
tion of Juan Seguin, a Mexican. That Dill had a large fol- 
lowing is clearly shown by a petition bearing 114 signa- 
tures, which v;as addressed to the executive, and which 
commended Dill's administration, affirmed that complaints 
had been made against him through prejudice, and asked 
that he be reinstated. ^^ The signers of this petition were all 
Americans, but there is no intimation that the opposing 

ises to put a stop to the passage of stolen horses to the United 
States. — Archives of Bexar. 

Political chief to alcalde of Nacogdoches, July 20, 1824, instruct? 
him to allow no caballada to pass Nacogdoches unless those in 
charge exhibited passports from Bexar or La Bahia. — Archives of 
Bexar. 

Blotter of political chief, — letter to Minister of State and Rela- 
tions, September 2, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 

" Petition to Jose Antonio Saucedo, January 16, 1824. — Archives 
of Bexar. 



The Texas Frontier. — Bugbee. iii 

party was made up of Mexicans., Dill seems to have been 
quite active in the matter^* and of course aroused bitter 
opposition. His enemies even went so far as to destroy 
property belonging to him and he believed' that they were 
attempting by this means to drive him from the country .^^ 

About this time the political chief emphatically declined 
to grant a number of petitions which had been filed with 
him by Americans asking for allotment of land and at the 
same time ordered the petitioners out of the country.^^ But 
the political chief had no means of expelling the Americans 
and they flatly refused to move ; they even went so far as to 
convene meetings, the whole spirit of which was hostile to 
the government.^'^ It is not possible to say whether or not 
there was any connection between this incident and the 
Dill affair, but "it can be affirmed with certainty that the 
two incidents combined served to open a wide gap between 
the new settlers and the government. The break thus made 
was very much widened the following year when alcalde 
Louis Procela, a Mexican, was forcibly deposed and Dill 
again invested with the authority of that office. ^^ 

Return of the former Mexican inhabitants. As has been 
said above Nacogdoches had oncfe contained a Mexican 
population of from 600 to 900 souls, which had entirely dis- 
appeared by mid-summer of 182 1. But when the Revolu- 
tion in Mexico was over, these former inhabitants, who had 
taken refuge in Louisiana and elsewhere, began to evince 
a desire to return to their old homes. As early as April, 
1822, Don Pedro Procela appeared before the ayuntamiento 

" Juan Seguin to political chief, February 24, 1824. — Archives of 
Bexar. 

" Political chief Saucedo to Alcalde Juan Seguin, April 6, 1824. — 
Archives of Bexar. 

" Blotter of political chief. — letter to Minister of Relations, April 
15, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 

" Norriss to political chief, June 12, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 

" Blotter of political chief, — letter to Governor Gonzalez, No- 
vember 27, 1825. — Archives of Bexar. 



112 Souther )i History Association. 

of Bexar and in behalf of himself and others gave expres- 
sion to such a desire,^^ and from this time forward there 
was a steady flow of the former Mexican population back to 
Nacogdoches and the surrounding district. It is not pos- 
sible to state definitely how many of these families returned ; 
nineteen of jthem were again in Nacogdoches by the last of 
August, 1822,-*' and by June, 1823, there had been an in- 
crease to at least twenty-six families consisting of 136 
souls. -^ Much of the trouble on the frontier in the years 
following 1825 grew out of the friction between these re- 
turning Mexican families and their new and too energetic 
neighbors. The cause of this trouble is not far to seek. 
When the Americans first entered Texas they occupied the 
farms and houses of the Mexicans who had fled from revo- 
lutionary fury, and showed little intention of surrendering 
the property thus acquired when the former owners re- 
turned and demanded possession. In the above mentioned 
petition of Don Pedro Procela to the ayuntamiento, of 
Bexar, he represented that the Americans had thus seized 
upon the lands of the former inhabitants and he begged that 
a detachment of troops be stationed on the border to com- 
pel restitution and to prevent further aggression. The ayun- 
tamiento was convinced, endorsed the petition and urged 
the governor to grant it in every particular; but nothing 
was done. 

In the spring of 1824 the political chief ordered the Amer- 
icans, who held lands of the former inhabitants, to restore 
them to their rightful owners-- and again in July of the 
same year he instructed the alcalde of Nacogdoches to drive 
out of the country those who refused to give up such lands, 

" Blotter of ayuntamiento, — letter to Governor Martinez, April 
II, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

-" Dill to Governor of Texas, August 27, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

-' Jose Antonio Chireiio to D. Dario Sambrano, June 20, 1823. 
(Copy.) — Archives of Bexar. 

" Blotter of political chief,— letter to Minister of Relations, April 
15, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 



The Texas Frontier. — Bugbee. 113 

"It is very necessary," he said, "that all the former citi- 
zens of that post who now live scattered to various places 
may return without fear and that they may receive their old 
establishments from which the intruders who have occu- 
pied them without any right shall be ejected."-^ But it was 
difificult to draw the line where rights of the Mexican ended 
and those of the intending settler began. If the Mexican 
held a grant from the government to land occupied by some 
intruder, the case was, of course, a clear one; but in many 
instances the Mexican had not perfected titles and so 
had little better legal claim to the disputed property than 
the intruding American.-* This gave opportunity for 
fraud, and the Americans asserted that claims were set up 
by the Mexicans to desirable lands and supported by docu- 
ments which were forged for the purpose. An examination 
of the evidence on this point, however, and further consider- 
ation of this subject do not fall within the scope of the pres- 
ent paper ; it is sufficient here to say that the trouble which 
ruined the colonial enterprise of Hayden Edwards and pre- 
cipitated the Fredonian War grew largely out of this matter. 
Migration of the Cherokees and allied tribes. An event in 
which there lurked the possibility of trouble for the Mexican 
government, but which excited no great alarm at the time, 
was the migration of the Cherokees to Mexico during the 
early twenties or just prior to the twenties. These Indians, 
as well known, had reached a stage of considerable advance- 
ment and led a more or less settled and agricultural life. 
They understood the advantages which a grant of land by 
Mexico, and of sovereignty if this could be obtained, would 
«^onfer upon them ; accordingly a delegation of their chiefs 
under the leadership of the celebrated Richard Fields made 

"' reciviran sus antiguas propiedades repeliendo de 

ellas a los intrusos que arbitrariamente las ocupan sin ningun 
derecho." — Blotter of political chief, — letter to Juan Seguin, alcalde 
of Nacogdoches, July 20, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 

" Blotter of political chief, — letter to Governor Gonzalez, August 
21, 1825. — Archives of Bexar. 



114 Southern History Association. 

the long journey to the Mexican capital in the winter of 
1822 and asked for lands. -° Fields afterwards believed or 
pretended to believe that his petition was favorably received 
and that in addition to the grant made to his people, he was 
given a commission as chief over all the Indian tribes of the 
four eastern provinces.-*' This is not the place to discuss 
the dissatisfaction that followed when the Indians learned 
definitely that they must accept lands under the provisions 
of the colonization laws ; it need only be added that, when 
this fact was brought home to them, smarting as they were 
under disappointment, they had the power and developed 
the inclination to make themselves troublesome and even 
dangerous to the Mexican government ; it was to secure the 
lands which the government had denied them that they 
cast in their fortunes with the discontented Americans when 
the revolutionary flag of Fredonia was raised over Na- 
cogdoches. 

Stispiciois of the Mexican officials as to the designs of the 
United States upon Texas. During the early twenties the 
Mexican ofBcials in Texas looked upon the government of 
the United States with distrust and viewed with suspicion 
often amounting to alarm certain movements in the neigh- 
boring republic, which they regarded as verging on hos- 
tility. The boundary between the United States and Mex- 
ico had never been definitely settled, and as delay after de- 
lay postponed the final adjustment, the conviction sank 
deeper and deeper into the Mexican mind that the United 
States intended in the end to occupy Texas. As we are 
not accustomed to ascribe such fears and suspicions to the 
Mexicans until a later date, it may be well to mention in 
detail a few instances about which there can be no doubt. 
On the fifth of September, 1822, Bernardo Gutierrez, of 

" Passport, dated San Antonio, November 10, 1822. — Archives of 
Bexar. Caspar Lopez to Governor of Texas, December 11, 1822. — 
Archives of Bexar. 

" Richard Fields to the Governor or the commandant at San 
Antonio, March 6, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 



The Texas Frontier. — Bugbee. 115 

revolutionary fame, wrote to the governor of Texas from 
Natchitoches that it was beUeved and reported there by 
certain soldiers in the army of the United States that the 
American forces had orders to advance to Nacogdoches in 
the following spring and to build a fort on the banks of the 
Angelina for the purpose of holding the country. During 
a residence there of eleven years, says Gutierrez, "I have 
not seen such preparations on this frontier."^'^ These fears 
of Gutierrez were reported to the emperor and produced 
such an effect that he authorized the appointment of an 
"'emisario secreto" to proceed to the border for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining the true intentions of the United 
States.-^ The report of this secret emissary would no 
doubt be of interest, but as it was made directly to the 
higher authorities, there is no known copy of it in Texas ; 
it probably now lies buried in the archives of Mexico. 
Again, in 1824, the political chief of Texas went'so far as 
to say that he was "certain" that the United States "is 
trying to annul or at least has the idea of annulling"^^ the 
treaty of 1819, and he believed that the American govern- 
ment would then assert its claim to the banks of the Rio 
Grande ; a few months later he forwarded to the Minister 
of Relations a newspaper from the United States which he 
believed sufficient to justify the gravest suspicions and 
called attention to maps published in the United States 
which presented the Rio Grande from its mouth to its 
source as the boundary between the two countries. "The 

" Jose Bernardo Gutierrez to Governor Trespalacios, September 
5, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

'^Gaspar Lopez to the Governor of Texas, enclosing orders, No- 
vember 2, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

Lopez to the Governor of Texas, November 19, 1822. — Archives 
of Bexar. 

Lopez to the Governor of Texas, very confidential, November 19, 
1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

^'' trabaja 6 por lo menos tiene la idea de anular." 

Jose Antonio Saucedo to Minister of Relations, April 15, 1824.— 
Archives of Bexar. 



ii6 Southern History Association. 

Anglo-American government counts this province as its 
own," he wrote, "and includes it in its maps, tracing its 
boundaries from the sources of the Rio Grande to its 
mouth on the coast of Tamaulipas.""" 

Before 1825, then, we find an element among the Mexi- 
can inhabitants of Texas who believed that the United 
States coveted the fertile region of Texas and who feared 
that their aggressive neighbor would not be over scrupulous 
as to the means of acquiring the desired territory. But this 
was a period of revolution in Mexico, and it is evident that 
the high officials did not all so believe and fear, or, if they 
did, they were so occupied with other affairs that the pos- 
sible loss of Texas did not concern them. No measures 
were taken to thwart the supposed designs of the United 
States ; the frontier remained unguarded ; colonists were 
given splendid estates in Texas for the mere asking ; and 
no measures were taken to control the squatters on the 
border. 

TJie danger of unrestricted immigration of Americans. 
Along with the doubts entertained by rome as to the in- 
tentions of the United States we must notice the fears 
of certain of^cials that Mexico was deliberately running 
into the gravest danger by inviting the Americans into 
Texas and at the same time neglecting to provide the 
means for restricting them to the lands intended for their 
settlement and for compelHng them to submit to Mexican 
laws. In the spring of 1822 the ayuntamiento of Bexar 
viewed with much concern the seemingly irresponsible 
manner in which each immigrant appropriated the land 
which his fancy selected without even so much as inform- 
ing the government of his arrival ; it appreciated the dan- 
ger in thus surrendering the province to the invader and 
asked the governor to interfere and properly regulate the 
settlement of the incoming colonists. The governor re- 
ferred the matter to the commandant general of the East- 

" Blotter of political chief. — letter to Minister of Relations, Sep- 
tember 19, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 



The Texas Frontier. — Bugbee. 117 

ern Internal Provinces and the ayuntamiento addressed it- 
self to that official, begging that he instruct the governor 
to restrict the Americans to the lands allotted them.^^ 

It was not the ayuntamiento alone that scented danger 
in this irregular and uncontrolled immigration of Ameri- 
cans. Jose Antonio Saucedo, for a long time the executive 
of Texas, repeatedly begged the prompt interference of 
the government for the purpose of regulating the frontier. 
In March, 1824, many Americans who had decided to set- 
tle in the neighborhood of Nacogdoches, laid their peti- 
tions before Saucedo asking for titles to the lands occupied 
by them. In his refusal to grant these petitions the politi- 
cal chief laid down maxims which six years later were to 
make Bustamante's decree of April 6, 1830, a land-mark in 
the history of America. "It is not good policy," he wrote 
to the Minister of Relations, "to allow colonies of foreign- 
ers to establish themselves on the frontier next their own 
country."^^ Not only did he refuse to make the concession 
desired, but he went so far as to order the Americans to 
vacate their lands or at least certain lands, at the same 
time instructing them how they might obtain grants in 
accordance with the laws^^ Yet he sadly confessed to the 
Minister of Relations that he knew his demands would be 
disregarded by the Americans and realized that he was pow- 
erless to enforce them ; he explained that he had refused to 
grant lands to the applicants because such were his orders 
and because "I am persuaded that the Supreme Executive 
power will never permit foreigners to establish themselves 
according to their own fancy in the territory of the Mexi- 
can Federation, especially upon the frontier of the country 
from which they came." 

" Blotter of the ayuntamiento of Bexar, — letter to the com- 
mandant general, April 2, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

" no es bien recivida politica qe las Colonias Extrangeras 

se establescan en la raya de su pays." Blotter of political chief, — 
letter to Minister of Relations, April 15, 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 

" Blotter of political chief, — letter to Juan Seguin, alcalde of 
Nacogdoches, April 6. 1824. — Archives of Bexar. 



ii8 Southern History Association. 

It should be carefully noted here that these" expressions 
of the political chief were not applied to all Americans set- 
tling in Texas. While he was thus denouncing the dis- 
orders of the frontier Austin's settlement of Americans was 
gathering strength in the valleys of the Colorado and 
Brazos under the protection of the Mexican government 
and with the favor of both local and national officials. His 
denunciation was directed against those foreigners w-ho 
showed a disposition to consult their own pleasure in the 
selection of lands rather than the positive rules laid down 
by the colonization laws, and against those who had oc- 
cupied lands to which former Mexican citizens still had a 
claim; and hence he insisted that the government should 
exercise general supervision and control over the immi- 
gration of the Americans and compel their respect and 
obedience by sending a sufficient force to the frontier. 

It is thus clear that the Mexican government was well 
informed as to the condition of the Nacogdoches frontier. 
The ayuntamiento of Bexar and the political chief had 
again and again made known the dangers that threatened 
and had as often begged for immediate help. The central 
government seemed to realize that the condition was a 
menace to the state and even made promises, but nothing 
was actually done and the political chief was forced to 
content himself with issuing orders which he knew would 
be disregarded for want of the means of enforcing them. 

Need of a garrison at Nacogdoches. The most serious 
mistake made by the Mexican government in its manage- 
ment of Texas affairs was probably the failure to provide 
an adequate military force for the protection of the in- 
habitants against the Indians and for the proper regula- 
tion and government of its frontier posts. Appeals for 
such aid continually poured into the executive office at 
Bexar and were promptly sent up to the higher officials 
with the endorsement of the chief. These appeals are to 
be counted by the score, and one wonders at the blindness, 



The Texas Frontier. — Biigbee. 119 

the stupidity almost, of the general government in answer- 
ing such appeals only with empty promises. Even the 
Indians laughed at the inefficient soldiery of Texas and 
frequently made raids to the very limits of Bexar; more 
than that, sometimes their insolence carried them under 
the guise of peace into the very heart of the city and into 
private houses where they helped themselves to whatever 
they could carry away.^'* The records of these years are 
full of stories of cattle raids, of attacks on outlying dis- 
tricts, and of the death or captivity of the inhabitants.^^ 
Such stories usually conclude with an account of the chase 
by the few soldiers fit for service, an excuse for their fail- 
ure to come up with the Indians, and a pathetic appeal to 
the higher authorities for more troops. The number of 
soldiers in Texas varied,^^ but the efficiency of the whole 
up to 1827 was almost a constant. "I have not a single 
soldier to-day," wrote Governor Martinez in August, 



** On July 5, 1825, a band of Comanches consisting of 226 men, 
104 women, and 44 children rode into San Antonio; they remained 
six days and in that time committed many depredations; they en- 
tered private houses, "insulting and threatening the owners with 
arms if they did not acquiesce or if they did not permit the Indians 
to take away whatever was desired." Blotter of political chief, — 
letter to Governor Gonzalez, July 24, 1825. — Archives of Bexar. 

'' A treaty with the Lipans made in 1822 provided, among other 
things, for the delivery of 34 persons held in captivity by the 
Lipans, besides 14 others which these Indians had bought from 
other tribes. — Caspar Lopez to the Governor, September 18, 1822. 
— Archives of Bexar. 

Cabello, a Comanche chief, claimed that he had 39 captives in 
1822. — Caspar Lopez to the Governor of Coahuila, copied to the 
Governor of Texas, January 16, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 

'° In 1820, there were 501 soldiers in Texas, including officers; in 
1821, the number was 251. — Unsigned table showing military 
strength of Texas from 1817 to 1821, dated February 21, 1821. — 
Archives of Bexar. 

In 1822, there seems to have been only three companies in Texas 
comprising a total of 186 men and officers. Two companies were 
stationed at San Antonio and the third at La Bahia These troops 
were entirely without clothing ("en una total desnuda"). — Report 
of military force, February 6, 1822. (Copy.) — Archives of Bexar. 

In 1825, the military force in Texas consisted of the same three 
companies, but now reduced to 59 men and officers, of whom only 
2Z were privates. — Juan de Castaneda. commandant, to Governor 
Gonzalez, March 15, 1825. — Archives of Bexar. 



I20 Southern History Association. 

1822;^" supplies for the garrison had failed and he had 
found it necessary to let the troops earn their living by 
work and they had left the city. On other occasions, want 
of equipment or mounts rendered them next to useless.^^ 
It is small wonder, then, that the fearless American on the 
border felt that he was master of the situation, and built 
his cabin and planted his corn in careless indifference to 
the laws of Mexico. 

The officials of Texas realized their weakness and begged 
for troops. The ayuntamiento of Bexar believed a force of 
4,000 or 5,000 necessary to restrain the Indians and regulate 
the Americans.^^ Saucedo's letters to the Minister of Re- 
lations, especially those mentioned above and another of 
August 20, 1824, dwelt at length upon the helpless condi- 
tion of Texas and begged immediate relief. But all in 
vain; some attempt was made to reform the military ad- 
ministration, but no troops were sent to Texas and Nacog- 
doches remained without a garrison. 

Such was the condition of the Texas frontier when Hay- 
den Edwards entered into contract with the Mexican gov- 
ernment to plant a colony of foreigners along the border. 
The country was already occupied by a considerable popu- 
lation of Americans who felt that they were masters of the 
situation, and who virtually ignored the regular authori- 
ties ; there was also a respectable number of Mexicans who 
had returned to the Nacogdoches country after the Revo- 
lution; trouble about land titles was already threatening 
between Americans and Mexicans ; those in power had 
refused to concede certain lands to the newcomers ; fac- 
tions had developed; and the breach between the foreign- 

"' Governor Martinez to , August 16. 1822. (Copy.) — 

Archives of Bexar. 

°' Most of the soldiers in 1824 were "desmontados. desarmados, 

desnudos " and discipline was "scarcely known." — Luciano 

Garcia to "Gefe del Estado Mayor General," January 21, 1824. 
(Copy.) — Archives of Bexar. 

'" Blotter of ayuntamiento of Bexar, — letter to ^ — (probably 

the Governor), June 24, 1822. — Archives of Bexar. 



TJie Texas Frontier. — Bugbee. 121 

ers and the government was widening daily. Suspicions 
as to the designs of the United States were entertained by- 
some Mexicans who thus became doubly suspicious of the 
American intruder and viewed with alarm the irregular 
and uncontrolled immigration to certain portions of 
Texas. Thus was the mine prepared and the train laid. 
In such a community clashing interests and ungoverned 
passions were sure to supply the spark. The wonder was 
that the catastrophe did not involve all American Texas 
in total ruin. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




